Vibraphone



June 30, 1964 c. o. MussER 3,138,986

VIBRAPHONE Filed Oct. 2, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l ture and produce.

United States Patent 3,138,986 VIBRAPHONE Clair 0. Musser, Studio City, Calif., assignor to Scientific Industries, Inc., Pico Rivera, Caiif., a corporation of California ,y

Filed Oct. 2, 1961, Ser. No. 142,690 2 Claims. (Cl. 84-410) This invention pertains to new and improved Vibraphones.

The term Vibraphone is commonly used at the present time to designate percussion type musical instruments in which motor-driven vanes are utilized at the tops of resonating columns or chambers between such chambers and tone bars for the purpose of producing a vibrato effect. This general type of instrument has been widely acclaimed and utilized for reasonswhich are not necessary to an understanding of the present invention. Unfortunately, however, prior Vibraphones as a class have tended to be subjected to Various different types of limitations tending to prevent their wide utilization.

One of these factors is cost. As a general rule prior vibraphones have been relatively expensive to manufac- As a result the utilization of Vibraphones by relatively inexperienced or beginning musicians hasl been severely limited. The utilization of these in struments by many musicians has also been severely limited because of the fact that these instruments could not be readily disassembled and assembled so as to facilitate their movement from one location to another.v

From the musical standpoint prior vibraphones have also tended to be objectionable for another entirely different type of reason. In the past there has been a distinct tendency for the vibration which is inherent in the operation of any motor to be transmitted Athroughout Various parts of a Vibraphone so as to interfere with desired pure tones being achieved on all occasions. Such Vibration is obviously important since it is desired that any musical instrument perform satisfactorily under virtually all conditions so that desired tones are obtained. j

An object of the present invention is to provide new and improved Vibraphones overcoming many of the foregoing and related disadvantages and limitations of prior art vibraphones as are briefly indicated in the preceding discussion. A further object of the present invention is to provide vibraphones which may be easily and conveniently manufactured, and which are constructed in sucha manner that they may be shipped in a knock down state and maybe easily assembled for use. A closely related object of this invention is to provide vibraphones which may be easily assembled and disassembled so as to facilitate their utilization in Various different locales. An important object of this invention is also to provide vibraphones in which the Vibration from the motors used in order to drive the Vanes employed with resonating chambers are operatively connected to these vanes in such a way that there is virtually no vibration transmitted from these motors in such a manner as to cause undesired tonal production during the operation of vibraphones as herein described.

These and Various other objects of this invention, as well as many specific advantages of it will be more fully apparent from a detailed consideration of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan View of a Vibraphone of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side-elevational View of this Vibraphone;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional View taken at line 3 3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan View of a support used in this Vibraphone;

3,138,986 Patented June 30, 1964 ICC FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional View indicating the connection of certain parts of this Vibraphone;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional View taken at line 6 6 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional View taken at line 7-7 of FIG. 3.

The accompanying drawings are primarily intended so as to clearly illustrate for explanatory purposes a presently vpreferred embodiment or form of this invention. Those skilled in the art ofconstruction of musical instruments will realize from studying these drawings and the remainder of this specification that Various changes of routine engineering character may be made in the specic Vibraphone shown without changing the essential features of this instrument and without departing from the inventive features embodied within this instrument as set forth in the appended claims forming a part of this disclosure.

As an aid to understanding the invention it may be stated in a generalized type of summary form that it concerns vibraphones, each of which includes a stand formed as a framework so as to have horizontal bars which are spaced from one another, a support formed out of a material which is relatively inoperative to'transmit vibrations located upon these side bars so as to extend between them, tone bars mounted upon the support so as to extend across openings in tuned resonating chamber means mounted upon the support so that there is a single resonating chamber directly beneath each -tone bar, a motor mounted upon the support, and shaft means. These shaft means are mounted upon the support so as to be independently mounted of the resonating columns, these shaft means holding varies extending across the openings into each of the resonating chambers and resilient belt means connecting the motor with the shaft means so that during the operation of the instrument the motor rotates the shaft means and the vane means. With this type of construction there is no direct connection between the resonating chambers and the motor means, except that they are both supported on the same framework. As a consequence of this any tendency for Vibration to be transmitted from the motor so as to interfere with the satisfactory operation of the resonating chambers is effectively combatted.

The actual details of this invention as wellras many advantages of it will be more fully apparent from a detailed consideration of the accompanying drawings. In these drawings there is shown a Vibraphone 10 of the present invention which is built so as to include a framework 12 serving as a base for this instrument. This framework 12 includes four legs 14; pairs of these legs 14 are joined at their tops by means of end bars 16. The bottoms of these legs 14 carry conventional casters 18 used in facilitating the movement of the Vibraphone 10. The bottoms of the legs 14 are joined by means of end braces 2li which in turn are connected at their midpoints by means of cross bars 22. f

Adjacent to their upper ends legs 14 are joined by means of cross horizontal bars 24 which are spaced a short distance below the end bars 16. As can be seen in FIG. 2 of the drawings these cross bars 24 are provided with downwardly curved ends 26 adjacent to the legs 14. In order to achieve structural rigidity in the framework 12 it is preferred to form all of the parts of this framework of square-shaped rigid metal tubing, and to secure the various parts of the framework 12 to one another in a rigid manner as through the use of bolts, or equivalent techniques.

In the Vibraphone 10 the framework 12 carries a support 2.8 formed out of a self-supporting plastic material such as a grade of polystyrene capable of being vacuum formed or formed out of various other similar organic polymers having related properties. Because of the nature of the Vibraphone 16 this support 2S is best formed out of material such as indicated in the preceding sentence because such materials, although rigid in a sense, are nevertheless sufficiently exible and resilient so as tobe relatively inoperative in transmitting vibrations during the use of the Vibraphone 10.

The support 28 in this Vibraphone 10 is formed so as to include downwardly directed side channels 30which are connected by means of end channels 32. From a consideration of FIGS. l, 3 and `4 of the drawings it will be'realized that these side channels 30 are adapted to iit over the cross bars 24 so as to rest upon these cross bars when the Vibraphone is assembled. It will also be realized that the curved ends 26 of the cross bars 24 facilitate this manner of locating the support 2S inasmuch as these curved ends tend to act as stops, preventing the lateralshifting of the support 28 with respect to the cross 'bars 24 through engagement of the walls of the end chanextend between the end channels 32 in the same general direction as the side channels 30. Adjacent edges of the y bottoms of these central channels 36 are preferably connected by means of a cross plate 38 which is formed integrallyy with the channels 32 and 36. In order to provide rigidity to the support 28 Vit is preferred to locate within the end channels 32 and the central channels 36 downwardly directed, U-shaped supports 40 of metal. These supports 40 are preferably secured toone another as by welding and are secured within the channels 32 and 36 as by use of a conventional adhesive (not shown).

`In the Vibraphone 1? the support 28 is provided with npars of upwardly directed projections 42 located on the upper surface ofthe channels 30 and 36. These projections 42 iit within correspondingly shaped openings 44 in the bases of the resilient, elastomeric mounts 46. Each of these mounts 46 has an upper edge 48 which engages the-bottom surface of a tone bar Sil so as to support this tone bar. As will be seen in the drawings a plurality of tone bars 50 are utilized in the Vibraphone 1i) in an estab- :lished manner so that Various notes of the chromatic scaleand various Sharps and ats may be obtained during the use of the Vibraphone. p Preferablyeach of the tone bars 50 includes an aperture 52 formed in it immediately above each of the mounts 46 so that small headed protuberances 54 on the mounts 46 can be snapped through these apertures 52 in order to securely j hold the tone bars 50 in place.

In the Vibraphone 10 the spaces generally between the side channels 30 and the central channels 36 are bisected by means of shafts 56 which are supported upon bearings 58 mounted yupon the end channels V32. These shafts 56 carry small vanes 60 so that each of these vanes 60 is Y located directly beneath one of lthe tone bars 50. In this construction ythe shafts 56 are turned by means of a small electric motorA 62 which is located on the undersurface of the cross plate 38 immediately adjacent to one of the end channels 32.r This motor 62 carries a small drive Shaft 64 which in turn carries pulleys 66. These pulleys 66'in turn carry elastomeric belts 68 which extend between them and' other, larger pulleys 7@ secured to the shafts 56 within one of the end channels 32.

In the Vibraphone 10 the operation of the motorV 62 is controlled bymeans of Va small switch 72 which is connected tothis motor 62 and to batteriesV 74 by means of conventional wires 76. These wires 76 are best secured in place by means of a conventional adhesive so as to extend along the undersurface of the support 28. It will be noted that the switch 72 is mounted at the base of one l of theend channels 32 lso as to be Visible from the top of the Vibraphone 10. The batteries 74 may be conveniently mounted upon the Vibraphone 10 in any of a number of diiferent manners. Preferably, however, they are secured in a battery housing 77 formed on the undersurface of the cross plate 33.-

The vanes e@ in the Vibraphone 10' are adapted to t Vwithin cylindrical, tuned resonating columns Sil. These columns Si) are arranged `in rows and are secured to one another by means of side bars 82. These bars 82 are provided with end projections 86 which are adapted to fit within correspondingly shaped openings S8 in one of the end channels 32. rThe extremities of the end bars 82 remote from the projections 86 are joined by means 'of cross bars 9h, each of which has anV aperture 92 formed in it. The apertures 92 are designed in such a manner that a row of the resonating columns may be secured in place by locating the projections 86 as indicated in FIG. 6 of the drawings and by moving an aperture 92 directly opposite a latch pin 94 mounted upon the end channel 32 remote from the end channel 32 having the 'Y openings 88 formed in it. Each latch'pin 94 preferably extends through openings 96 in the end channel 32 holding it in the supports 40; each latch pin 94 preferably has an external actuating knob 93 formed on one of its ends and a common coil spring 160 located around it between the walls of the support 40 through which it passes. A flange washer 102 is preferably secured to each pin 94 for the purpose of enabling the pressure of the springs 1110 v to bias these latch pins 94 into positions in which they are capable of engaging the apertures 92.v Y i In order` to achieve a dampening action in the Vibraphone llil an elongated channel 104 is located directly` above thecross plate 3S between adjacent ends of all lof the tonek bars 5t); thechannel 164 is formed out of metal or the like. a felt or similar resilient pad lil-6. The ends of the channel 104 are secured to arms 110 which are pivoted on small brackets 112 formed so as to extend from the end channelsl 32. Preferably this channel 104 is provided with a centrally located aperture 114 through which there extends the shaft of a common eye bolt 116.` This eye bolt 116 also preferably extends through an aperture 118 in the cross plate 3S and through the center of a common coil spring 120 which is resiliently biased between the cross plate 38 and the channel 104. A common nut 122 is located on .the extremity of the eye bolt 116 remote from the cross plate 38 for the purpose of securing this bolt in place. A common wing nut 124 may be located on the underneath section of the cross plate 38 for the purpose of adjusting the distance between the channel 104 and the cross plate 38 so as to vary ,tensionuponthe spring 120.

As this instrument is yused a pedal 125 attached to a cross brace 22 is used so as to move the channel 104" and the pad 106 downwardly away from the'V tone bars 50'through the use of a link 128 which extends between the eye bolt l116 and the pedal 126. Preferably the pedal 126 is provided with a slot 130 having one end larger than the other so that a head132 on one end of the link 128 may be attached toy this pedal by merely slipping this head into one end of the slot 130 and then` rotation of the shafts 56 and the attached vanes 60 fromV the tone bars 50 Vand the resonating chambers 80 because of the fact that the bearings 58 are also located upon this support 28, because this support 28 is of a character thatis relatively incapable of transmitting vibration. They will further realize that with this construction This channel 104 carries on its upper surface I y like.

neither the shafts 56 nor the vanes 60 engage any part of any of the resonating columns 80 or the side bars 82 supporting these columns upon the support 28, for adequate clearance is provided so that the shafts 56' and the vanes 60 do not contact the columns 80. As a consequence of these factors there is nodanger of extraneous vibration affecting the operation of the tone bars 50 or the resonating columns 80 during the utilization of the Vibraphone 10. As a consequence of this the tones produced by this Vibraphone during its utilization are of a desired pure character.

From a consideration of the foregoing it will be real ized that this entire instrument (the Vibraphone may be readily disassembled for various purposes. Thus, for example, the resonating columns 80 may be simply removed frorn the support 28 by movement of the latch pins 94; similarly the support 28 with the columns 80 removed may be easily lifted off of the framework 12 after the link 128 has been disconnected. Also the Various parts of this framework 12 may be further disassembled by removing the bolts and securing it together. The Vibraphone 10 can, of course, be assembled by reversing these operations.

These factors are important because 4they enable the Vibraphone 10 to be manufactured as separate units which can be packaged together for shipment to a store or the These factors are also important because they enable the entire Vibraphone 10 to be taken apart and put together with a minimum of difficulty as, for example, when it is necessary to move this instrument by a car from one location to another. It is considered equally significant that these results are achieved in an instrument of the type specied which is musically accurate and which is of a top professional quality.

Because of the nature of this invention it is to be considered as being limited solely by the appended claims forming a part of this disclosure.

I claim:

1. A Vibraphone which includes:

a framework serving as a stand, said framework having'horizontal bars spaced from one another;

a support formed of a material of a rigid character having vibration damping qualities located upon said framework so as to be supported by said horizontal bars, said support having at least one opening formed in it said support including downwardly directed channels, said horizontal bars tting Within said downwardly directed channels;

a plurality of individual tone bars resiliently mounted on said support so as to extend across said openmg; l

a resonating chamber mounted on said support directly beneath each of said tone bars, each said resonating chamber having an opening leading into the interior thereof each said opening being located adjacent to and spaced from a tone bar;

a motor means mounted on said support so as to be spaced from said resonating chambers and said tone bars;

bearing means mounted on said support so as to be spaced from said resonating chambers and said tone bars;

shaft means mounted on said bearing means so as to extend across the openings into a plurality of said resonating chambers, said shaft means being out of contact with said resonating chambers;

a vane means attached to said shaft means within the opening into each of said resonating chambers, said shaft means being capable of being turned so as to rotate said vane means with respect to the openings into said chambers so as to achieve a tremolo effect as said tone bars are caused to vibrate; and

belt and pulley means connecting said motor means with said shaft means so as to transmit rotation from said motor means to said shaft means.

2. A Vibraphone as defined in claim 1 including resilient pad means secured to said support within said downwardly directed channels-and wherein said horizontal bars engage said resilient pad means.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,410,002 Benites Mar. 21, 1922 1,549,146 Miner Aug. 11, 1925 1,620,313 Abele Mar. 8, 1927 1,760,141 Jones May 27, 1930 1,935,566 Greenleaf Nov. 14, 1933 2,194,545 Firestone Mar. 26, 1940 2,317,164 Zimmerman Apr. 20, 1943 

1. A VIBRAPHONE WHICH INCLUDES: A FRAMEWORK SERVING AS A STAND, SAID FRAMEWORK HAVING HORIZONTAL BARS SPACED FROM ONE ANOTHER; A SUPPORT FORMED OF A MATERIAL OF A RIGID CHARACTER HAVING VIBRATION DAMPING QUALITIES LOCATED UPON SAID FRAMEWORK SO AS TO BE SUPPORTED BY SAID HORIZONTAL BARS, SAID SUPPORT HAVING AT LEAST ONE OPENING FORMED IN IT SAID SUPPORT INCLUDING DOWNWARDLY DIRECTED CHANNELS, SAID HORIZONTAL BARS FITTING WITHIN SAID DOWNWARDLY DIRECTED CHANNELS; A PLURALITY OF INDIVIDUAL TONE BARS RESILIENTLY MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT SO AS TO EXTEND ACROSS SAID OPENING; A RESONATING CHAMBER MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT DIRECTLY BENEATH EACH OF SAID TONE BARS, EACH SAID REASONATING CHAMBER HAVING AN OPENING LEADING INTO THE INTERIOR THEREOF EACH SAID OPENING BEING LOCATED ADJACENT TO AND SPACED FROM A TONE BAR; A MOTOR MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT SO AS TO BE SPACED FROM SAID RESONATING CHAMBERS AND SAID TONE BARS; BEARING MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID SUPPORT SO AS TO BE SPACED FROM SAID RESONATING CHAMBERS AND SAID TONE BARS; SHAFT MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID BEARING MEANS SO AS TO EXTEND ACROSS THE OPENINGS INTO A PLURALITY OF SAID RESONATING CHAMBERS, SAID SHAFT MEANS BEING OUT OF CONTACT WITH SAID RESONATING CHAMBERS; A VANE MEANS ATTACHED TO SAID SHAFT MEANS WITHIN THE OPENING INTO EACH OF SAID RESONATING CHAMBERS, SAID SHAFT MEANS BEING CAPABLE OF BEING TURNED SO AS TO ROTATE SAID VANE MEANS WITH RESPECT TO THE OPENINGS INTO SAID CHAMBERS SO AS TO ACHIEVE A TREMOLO EFFECT AS SAID TONE BARS ARE CAUSED TO VIBRATE; AND BELT AND PULLEY MEANS CONNECTING SAID MOTOR MEANS WITH SAID SHAFT MEANS SO AS TO TRANSMIT ROTATION FROM SAID MOTOR MEANS TO SAID SHAFT MEANS. 